Someone to talk to
by kasey1939
Summary: When the team goes to Detroit Hotch meets someone who helps him cope with not only the case but his empty life. AU Reid is not a part of the BAU team.
1. Chapter 1

Aaron Hotchner packed the last of the things he needed in his overnight bag preparing to go consult on another out of town case with his team. Glancing around to make sure he remembered everything he saw a picture of his family on the bedside table and suddenly felt so old. Picking it up he stared at his wife and child. The team often wondered how he and Hayley stayed so steady with his having a job that had ended many a marriage before, the truth, he and his wife were together but separate.

When he'd met Hayley in high school he had been a shy boy, the son of a conservative republican prosecuting attorney, trying so hard not to make waves and embarrass the family name. Hayley had been a liberal woman's rights activist in the making trapped in a family as conservative as his own. They had become fast friends he'd even used getting close to her as an excuse to join the school play that year. It hadn't taken her long to learn his deepest darkest secret and once she had instead of scorn he found a partner in crime. Whenever he wanted to go out and meet people he would tell his family he was going out with her and vice versa at first it was supposed to be just until they finished high school and moved out of their parents homes, like somehow being on their own would finally give them the courage to be true to themselves. Then once they'd gotten into the same colleges senior year they decided to go together. Half way through sophomore year at Stanford Hayley decided she wasn't cut out to be a career woman that for all her liberal ideas and fights for equality all she really wanted was a child and that's when it happened.

Hayley had wanted a child not a husband, she was independently wealthy and didn't really need any help from a man, who according to her would try to run her life, and so she proposed a deal to help them both. For years their respective families had been waiting for Aaron to pop the question, but he'd kept saying he wanted to wait until after graduation so he would be better equipped to support a family and a household on his own. She suggested they get married for real and he give her a child, in exchange for this marriage of convenience he would get as much freedom as he was ever going to have. She said she only wanted the one child and they could go the artificial insemination route because she did want to child to be his for legal reasons, and they would live separate lives under one roof.

They were still best friends of course; they still talked about their day and the men they'd met; only now they were connected to each other and free of their families. He made sure she always understood that if she ever met someone she truly wanted to make a life with he would give her a divorce and would take all the blame with the families saying his job made their relationship crumble like it had so many others in his line of work. Every time he brought it up she would smile and say she already had the perfect life why would she want to ruin it with icky complications when she already had both her boys to keep her company.

Thinking of Jack always brought a smile to his face. At first he hadn't thought he would be a good father and he was sure he was failing miserably at parts of it. One thing would never change though; he loved his son more than anything else in his life. He wasn't old enough yet to truly understand his parent's relationship, for the moment he simply thought all families were like his. One day that would change and he would start asking questions and he already knew he would never lie to his son. One day he would tell Jack the truth about himself and his mother and hope he would understand.

Placing the photo back on the table he picked up his bag and headed for the plane. Time to catch another killer, in another place, with his team. Always different yet somehow always the same.

**A/N - Alright so should we make Reid the killer or just someone Hotch meets like a witness or expert or hell even a hooker? Let me know, I'm new to this fandom so let me know if I get anything's way off but keep in mind this is an AU so some things will be different on purpose but I'll try to stay true to the voice of the characters.**


	2. Chapter 2

Hotch sat on the plane and wondered tried to shake this sense of foreboding that had gripped him ever since this case had landed on his desk. He wanted nothing more than to just turn around and go home, but he had a job to do and people depending on him to do it so he pressed on.

"The unsub is targeting high risk victims. He's taken over a dozen prostitutes that we know of but given the nature of the targets and the fact that many would either not be missed right away or even if they were missed would not be reported as missing the number may be significantly higher. Of the victims that have gone missing three have been found, the unsub leaves them in alley ways covered in trash and nude." Now that he had the overview on the table he waited for his team to chime in with their thoughts and impressions waited to hear if they saw something he missed.

"That sounds like someone who has a lot of contempt and anger. But is it for women in general or just prostitutes?" Rossi as usual piped up with questions for the group, usually when he wasn't one hundred percent sure of the answer himself.

"Given his chosen victims are all prostitutes, and I believe two of the known missing are male, I think his anger is directed more at their profession than the people themselves." In comes Prentiss with an answer in her usual 'why didn't you know that we all read the same file' tone.

"We'll be touching down in Detroit soon, the locals are reluctant to give this their full attention and already resent our presence and we haven't even landed yet. There are no fresh crime scenes to look at but, I want to look at the dump sites anyway. Morgan you go to the first site, Rossi you and Prentiss go to the second, I'll take the third. We'll all meet up at the police station after J.J. should have us all set up by then. We'll discuss where to go from there."

Just because he was a sick bastard and he enjoyed throwing Rossi and Prentiss together. He thought of it as an experiment to see which would crack first and complain to him about the other. He had to get his entertainment somehow didn't he?

He had taken the third site which was the freshest but still over a week old. The victim Louanna Gregson had been nineteen years old when her life had been ended. The dump site it's self was in a high traffic area, so was the unsub not concerned with being caught, or could he blend in enough not to be noticed? She had been found by a waiter taking out the garbage who had been beyond traumatized by the experience. She was naked propped up against the wall legs spread covered in trash, just another way for the unsub to demean and humiliate his victim or a statement perhaps. But if it's a statement who's he making it to?

Shaking his head he started out of the alley headed towards the police station, looking around him as he went he saw quite a few prostitutes, this seemed to be their area. Was the message for them? Stop what you're doing or end up the same? If so then why hadn't a prostitute found the body? Then again maybe they had and just hadn't reported it not wanting to get involved. Just before he got in his SUV he saw a boy staring at him, late teens early twenties brown hair skin and bones body on display in provocative clothing, obviously a prostitute. Ignoring him for now he continued on his way back to the station and his team but he couldn't get the boy out of his mind, it was quickly becoming something close to an obsession and he could not afford that while working a case. No he just had to forget the boy and move on, easier said than done of course.

Reid watched the Fed leave and couldn't help but wonder what he was doing here. Couldn't be because of LouLou, cops never care about hooker and Feds care even less than locals. He had been damn good looking though, all dark brooding and intense, if he'd thought for even a second he would be interested badge or not he'd totally do him. Might even give him a freebie.

Who was he kidding guy like that had to be straight up hetero, he was so straight laced, plus the wedding ring on his finger. He'd probably never see him again anyway. Watching a car slow to a crawl as the driver looked them all over like they were nothing but objects he struck a pose meant to entice and lure in Johns. When the car stopped in front of him and the window rolled down he took a deep breath before pushing away from the wall and going to work. Oh how he wished he could quite but there were so many people depending on him he didn't dare, looking in at the good looking guy in the driver's seat it wasn't all bad though.

**A/N - So you've finally met Reid! tons of people let me know what they wanted and so I made him a combination of a few things. Hope you enjoy.**


	3. Chapter 3

Hotch made it back to the precinct just in time to hear the yelling. Wonderful just what he needed today, agression. He didn't recognize the voice, so the shouter wasn't a part of his team. That was at least somewhat of a relief, he always hated reprimanding his team members and if one of them had lost their cool enough to start screaming without a damn good reason that's what he would have had to do. Turning the corner he found the source of the noise and while none of his team was screaming they were most definately involved. Standing back for a moment he assessed the situation and tried to find the solution before jumping in. That almost never worked in these sorts of situations but he always tried none the less. If nothing else it always gave him a moment to gain more information about what was happening before he had to jump into the middle of the arguement. There was nothing worse than going into an already heated arguement blind.

"We don't need your help we already got this covered so you can just pack up and head back to where ever the hell it is you came from."

So the dispute was about territory then. He could handle that and at the same time he wondered why he ever thought it might be anything else, it was always about territory. He watched the man step farther and farther into J.J's personal space as he attempted to intimidate her. He also watched as the tactic failed and inspired more annoyance than fear in the agent.

"Officer, I will tell you again that weather my team and I stay or go is not up to me. I do not make those decisions, if you would like to take that up with my supervisor you can as soon as he returns from the crime scene. Also it doesn't matter if you believe you need our help or not your captain obviously does or he wouldn't have invited us here." He could tell from her last statement she was becoming frustrated which meant that this conversation had to have been going non-stop for a while now. Judging by the badge hanging from his belt the man was also a detective meaning that J.J calling him officer was meant as a subtle dig about where exactly she ranked him in the pecking order of law enforcement. He also could tell that the detective had taken her words as criticism of his investigation rather than a remark on his current behavior.

"Listen here little girl-"

"Is there a problem here J.J?" He figured now was as good a time as any to step in. J.J looked to be about one insult away from physical violence.

"No, sir, this gentleman has just been waiting to speak with you. Now that you are here I will continue with the work you assigned to me, sir. Our work space should be ready by the time the others arrive, Sir." As she turned to leave he noted her smirk and knew he'd have to decide weather to reprimand her later. Her continued use of the word sir was meant to convey that he was her superior and as such he was above the so called officer in her eyes. He commanded her respect while the detective gained only sarcasm and impatience.

Turning back to the man in question he decided to go first.

"I am supervisory special agent Aaron Hotchner and you are?" He already had a pretty good idea about who this was, but asking implied that the other man held some power in this conversation. The power of information, it was his to either give or withold.

"I am Detective Milner and this is my case. I'm sorry that you had to come all this way for nothing but we really don't need your help on this." The slight emphasis on detective was likely subconcious, but he found it to be just over compensation.

"I am sorry you feel that way, but as I'm sure the other agent told you, while you don't believe you are in need of our assistance your captain is. Once called in we only leave one of three way either the case is solved, we get recalled back to Virgina by our superiors, or your captain rescinds his invitation to us."

He stood there for a moment in silence giving the man a chance to process what all he had said. Within moments he got the reaction he had guessed he would get. Righteous indignation and anger.

"This is my case."

"And it will remain your case we simply help provide the tools to make your investigation a bit more steamlined. We are hear to help you narrow down the search not to step on your toes. Now if you will excuse me a moment, my team has returned and I need to debrief them now."

Walking away he watched as the man made a beeline for his captains office. This was going to be so much fun. He could already feel the headache starting to form. Until they were sent home they would treat this case as it deserved to be treated, with their undivided attention. With that in mind he pulled his mind from the possable problems in the future on steaming mad detective could make and focused where he was needed.

"Did you find anything new at the crime scenes?"

Reid walked back towards his studio apartment and tried once more to forget about the Fed he saw earlier. He would likely never see that man again so dwelling on him like this just wasn't doing him any good. Taking a deep breathing and huffing in annoyance he started to jog the rest of the way home, it was getting cold and he wasn't exactly dressed for warmth. Still he couldn't seem to shake the feeling that he would be seeing his tall dark mystery man sooner rather than later.


End file.
